eb and user experience designer
Bryce Easton was ‘blown away’
by the calibre and quality of
work being produced by Nelson branding
agency HotHouse when he arrived in the
city in 2015.
The Canterbury lad, who did a
Bachelor of Design at Christchurch’s
School of Arts, spent several years working
for himself as well as for high-profile
agencies in Australia and North America.
His former clients included Mazda,
Toyota, Foxtel, American Express, Yering
Station, Commonwealth Bank of Australia,
Deloitte, Thomson Reuters, Brown
Brothers and Henschke .
He moved to Nelson in October 2015
in what was ‘definitely a lifestyle choice’,
and admits there were challenges in
leaving a city like Sydney, population four
million, for Nelson, population 50,000,
especially when it came to finding a
stimulating job.
“I had no work expectations but
got chatting to people, started looking
around and stumbled across HotHouse,”
he says. “I wasn’t expecting to find
something like this in a small provincial
city … they are a fantastic team of people
doing amazing work.”
The HotHouse team is made
up of creative professionals curious
about technology and the way it can
be leveraged to create memorable,

meaningful brand experiences. As a web
designer Easton is passionate about
the online space and loves creating
functioning, high-converting and
successful websites.

HotHouse aims to be all things
to all people and promote
long-term relationships.

He is also enthusiastic about the
outdoors, and says Nelson’s accessibility
to the mountains and sea made moving
here a straightforward choice. “There is
so much to do and enjoy. I love fishing,
kayaking and being outside and I feel
if you have a happy lifestyle then you
are happy at work – they bounce off
each other.”
HotHouse offers full graphic design,
web design and branding services for
companies of all shapes and sizes.
Creative director Allan Innes-Walker,
who has been with the company for 11
years, says HotHouse aims to be all things
to all people and promote long-term
relationships.
“The challenge is delivering a website
or brand and then getting into that
privileged position where you really get
to know your client and become a trusted
partner in helping to grow their business,”

he says. “It’s a fascinating place to be.”
Innes-Walker believes in surrounding
himself with ‘awesome’ people who
become part of a close-knit, talented and
skilled team. Attracting them to Nelson is
not difficult, he says.
“These are people who have big-city
and big-agency skills but they want to
be in a small town with access to the
outdoors and the fantastic lifestyle that
offers. We’ve ended up with a collection
of highly educated people who are
applying their skills here in Nelson
for Nelson businesses.”
Today’s technology means HotHouse
can deliver to companies outside of
Nelson. Some of their biggest clients
are based in Wellington, Auckland and
even overseas.
Easton describes living in Nelson
as seamless. “Everything here is so
accessible,” he says. “I have a five
minute commute to work and can be
in Wellington talking to a client within
the hour. How amazing is that to be in
another city faster than it used to take
me to get to work.”